Hi there, so for those of you who are familiar with the Overlord manga/anime I'd like to do something in a similar vein to that.

The way I'm looking at it the core aspects of the story that make it appealing to me as a potential game setting are:
You have a lot of power and resources at your disposal.
You have a large, well established base of operations.
You're in a world you have no idea about, anything outside of your base is almost entirely an unknown to you.
The power of the majority of the world outside your base compared to you is miniscule but there is enough uncertainty out there that it would be impossible for you to just blunt force take everything over without probably getting yourself destroyed.
As a result of the above, you need to be careful with how you put all that power and resources to use. A lot of behind the scenes, intrigue, making deals and such.

I'm not sure if there's a system that would work here. I know a lot of fantasy systems would facilitate this but I want something simple and rules light or freeform because I feel that having a lot of rules and having everything your character is capable of and owns all written down kind of detracts from the feeling a setting like this portrays. That is to say a sort of: You have all the keys to unlock all the ways forward but you gotta sift through and find the right keys and I feel that's lessened if you know everything you have/can do from the beginning. Plus I don't want to spend days trying to build that character mechanically.

I would expect the early days would involve building up the original world: What background the character has, what his base is like and all the people/npcs in it. Really get a good feel for what home is because once he's thrown into a new world, home will be the only thing he has.

If any other fans of Overlord think this sounds like something they'd like to run then please rmail me and we'll discuss it. Also I don't think this will work particularly well as a group effort (maybe one or two other people could work but I'd be very hesitant to try that) so solo is preferred.

Basically playing as members of a group of Players who did not log out when the game 'shut down' on the last day.
I love this series of Anime and the concept intrigues me to no end.
The thing I have noted in the Anime are hints that players, singular or in groups have been popping up through out the history of this world. The Theological country seems to have been founded by a group of such players (hinted at in the beginning of the second season by two characters and a dragon later on.)
The advantage here is you could have a game that takes place either before or after the Overlord series and not mess with the continuity of the anime. (there by the 'world history' as we know it.)
The change in time also explains why, in the anime, the guild house is in a plain instead of a swamp. Time will change many things and in a few centuries what was once a swamp could become plains, forest to deserts and so on. This adds to the players confusion as to what is happening (add to it you can't log out and are stuck in that world adds to the drama.)

Aurzel member, 120 postsSat 24 Mar 2018at 14:35

msg #4

Overlord style game

I didn't want it to actually be in the overlord world just to be inspired from it.

Well having more background to work with adds to the feel of the world.
Sure it does not have to BE the same world, that said having the anime to call on for inspiration is a good thing.
I can see using a D&D type world or system to run this. Possibly other systems as well. (I am an old time 2cd Ed AD&Der, so I tend to default there).
The thing we need is someone to run it. I am unable to run games anymore, total GM burnout. But I would love to play in something like this.

Aurzel member, 121 postsWed 4 Apr 2018at 12:59

msg #6

Overlord style game

bump

Constantine05 member, 2 postsThu 5 Apr 2018at 06:50

msg #7

Overlord style game

It seems to me that ya'll are looking, basically, for an Epic level game (ALA D&D 3.0 - 3.5) wherein you start at lvl 21+, and find yourselves in what amounts to a Low Magic world, coming from a High Magic world. Sound about right? Given how Overlord is set, with the MC being a lvl 100 Magic User (In-game terms, probably about equivalent to 27th-30th lvl, with Epic Spellcasting as a Feat) in a world where most people, at most, get to about 9th level at the highest. ((I'm working off the 'Spell Tier' system in overlord, wherein 5th Tier spells are the absolute maximum for non-Yggdrasil characters would be about equivalent to 5th lvl spell slots, despite the discrepancies)) with magic items allowing them to exceed these limits in rare situations ((Read: The Skeletal Dragons, Dragons in general, etc.))

This sound about right? Not to mention the sheer amount of crap Momonga (The MC of Overlord) was able to bring with him, in the form of the Great Tomb of Nazarik and the Artifact-level shinoligans he was given by his guild-mates.

The question I'd have to ask, as someone who's considered running a game like unto this previously, is would this be a full-on self-insert? like with the MC of Overlord finding *himself* in the body of his character and in a world NOT the character's native habitat ((Read: Not Yggdrasil?)) 'cause those tend to get pretty meta very fast.

Other options for systems for people to consider:
BESM ((Pretty standard Anime setting system))
Mutants and Masterminds
Exalted ((Exalted in a mortal-only setting? Brutality.))